Good morning.

The time is now 9 15, and we're gonna go ahead and call our community development committee meeting to order.

We have a number of items, so I want to be sure we give ourselves enough time.

Um and the first item some standard items here is a resolution approving a fireworks discharge permit for strictly FX for indoor special effects at the Van Angel Arena and connection with IPR on February 24th, 2026.

So moved.

And I'll support that.

Hello.

Good morning.

This one's just mostly flames, but they do have some pyro.

Okay.

Um I don't have any questions.

Sounds good.

Okay.

All those in favor?

Aye.

And I'm an I as well.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

And we have the next one, which is also a resolution approving a fireworks discharge permit for Broadway Grand Rapids and Juliet performances for indoor special effects at the DeVos Performance Hall in connection with Juliet, the new musical from March 10th, 2026 through March 15th, 2026.

So moved.

And I'll support that.

Any other comments?

Nope.

No.

All right.

All those in favor?

Aye.

And I'm an aye.

That motion carries.

Um next is another resolution approving a fireworks discharge permit for strift strictly FX for indoor special effects at the Van Andal Arena in connection with Bailey Zimmerman on March 12, 2026.

So moved.

Support all those in favor?

I.

I'm I.

Motion carries.

These are very standard for the public that may be watching.

We get these regularly.

They have to come to us.

Um, but thank you for presenting.

All right.

So we'll move on to item number four.

Item number four is a resolution awarding a contract with uh Basin Electric Co.

for electrical improvements at WRRF North Secondary Control Building in the amount of 1,763,067 with a total amount not to exceed of $2,763,000 935.

So moved.

And I'll support that.

Ms.

Irving.

Good morning.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Um, this is to replace critical electrical components in the North Secondary Control Building at the water resource recovery facility.

This project was able to use a 0.25% micro local business enterprise discount.

And they are subcontracting about 255,000 of the total contract.

Great.

Thank you.

Questions on this item.

All right, good morning.

Um, all those in favor?

Aye.

And I'm aye.

And I'm commissioner, I won't ask you to vote on that one.

Um, but that was number four, so that motion carries.

Thank you, Miss Irving.

Item number five is a resolution approving an agreement with MDOT for the construction of Grand River Edges Trail East, Leonard Street to Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad and authorizing $2,140,352 for the local share of costs.

So moved.

Moved and supported, Miss Irving.

Um, yes, this is a really exciting project.

So this is often referred to as the Leonard to Ann Trail.

This is a critical portion of our Grand River Edges Trail and closing a gap.

So we're very excited to have this going forward.

This has been supported by a TAP grant through um MDOT and the and a trust fund grant through MDNR as well as a West Michigan Trails contribution.

Um so definitely a community effort for this trail.

Um it will go for this portion of the project goes from Leonard Street to the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad, and then the portion from the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad to Anne was bid um in January of 26 and is also going at the same time.

Okay, thank you.

Questions on this one?

Um, Chair, I do.

Uh are there so this is a long trail.

Um, this is one part of a phase, or is this the final phase?

Where are we at in the whole process of the vision?

There are multiple phases.

There are multiple phases that have been completed.

This is closing a significant gap.

So this this closes part of our northern portion to the south.

We also have trail projects going on, including the Oxford Trail and the Grand River edges near the amphitheater.

So that project is currently also going on and being constructed.

Um we still have some gaps where we're working with developers and property owners to continue closing those gaps.

Wonderful.

Um, and then this secondary follow-up would be, I guess maybe for mobile grasp this connect to any of our existing bike lane infrastructures or other walkability uh things.

I would like to hand it back over to the engineering department.

Um, I think one of the critical connections on this one is Caledonia Street.

Um, and that ties into bike facilities that go east-west.

So there's multiple ways to access it with different um bikes or pedestrians.

Great, thank you.

And then Miss Irvine, can you also share um were any of the American rest a number of American rescue pan dollars also went to this to the trail, and this is the final year to use those dollars?

Is that correct?

And do we we I'm guessing we don't have any consideration because the work has been started or does it have to be completed?

Do you want me to take that?

I do want you to along the greenway.

So the original um greenway grant that came to the city and Kent County and Ada Township, I believe received a portion of that as well.

Was ARPA dollars flowing through the state and then DGRI to those three jurisdictions?

Those funds do need to be expended by the end of 2026.

Okay.

Uh we the city also put some of our ARPA dollars in portions.

Uh I don't believe there are any ARPA dollars in this particular city ARPA dollars in this particular portion.

Um but again, those need to be expended by the end of 2026.

We have a lot of measures in place to monitor that and and push that and meet that objective.

So currently something we are all monitoring on a pretty much three three to four week basis to make sure we're pushing out.

Uh it's a lot for the contractor community to okay work through.

So that's our ARPA money, and we obviously we have the flexibility if we think, and we'll probably make that determination the closer we get to budgetary conversations, I imagine.

So the ARPA city ARPA dollars that have been awarded were awarded, they're in the project budgets.

We are spending them now.

And they would be spent by 2026.

And they would be spent by the end of 2026, barring some kind of career.

Okay, what I'm saying is if we didn't, and for some crazy reason, we can shift those dollars.

Yes, and Molly, yes, and the chief financial officer has her eye on that.

And some of it may require commission action to move it around, some may not.

Yeah, I think it would be helpful to I think as we start that budget process.

I assume also we would that would be part of the budget conversation, just so we wouldn't leave any of those dollars on the table.

Sure.

But then can you speak to again the uh DGRI was the was the entity that received that um was it 75 million?

55 million.

Uh it was 55 million, and that is to ultimately the vision is to connect a greenway trail all through Kent County and connect up to Ottawa County.

That overall project is is a much bigger number, but the 55 million was apportioned between City of Grand Rapids projects, Kent County projects, and an ADA Township project.

Thanks for restating that.

It's been some time since that those dollars, and here we are in 2026.

So thank you for that overview, uh Miss Barrens.

Any other questions about this item?

Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Item carries.

Item number six is a resolution awarding a contract with C and D Hughes Inc.

for water service replacement in Oakwood Avenue from Knapp Street to Cheshire Drive and reconstruction of Oakwood Avenue from Cheshire Drive to Three Mile Road and the amount of four million nine hundred and fifty-seven thousand seven hundred and forty-eight dollars with a total amount not to exceed of six million a hundred and ninety thousand nine hundred and sixty-two dollars.

So moved support and supported.

Um this project is replacing an aged six-inch water main.

It also replaces um 73 lead water service lines, and it uses a 9% micro LBE um participation.

Um, and that is shared, even though this is being partially funded with DWRF funds.

Um, so uh using our micro LBE program is not allowed as part of the contract, but we have a contractor who's worked with us who still um has contracted with some of our micro LBEs.

So voluntary actions there.

Okay.

Um any questions on this one, colleagues?

Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Item carries.

Item number seven is a resolution awarding a contract with the Anlon Corporation for Oxford from Norwick to God free reconstruction in the amount of one million nine hundred and eighty-six thousand six hundred two dollars with a total amount not to exceed of two million eight hundred and thirty-four thousand seven hundred and thirty-three dollars.

So moved.

Moved and supported.

Um so this project supports further sewer separation.

So the existing sewer will become a storm sewer, a new sewer will be placed, um, and then the bridge will be rehabilitated uh and the road will be um narrowed to help slow traffic.

This also supports our Oxford Trail project by um preparing the bridge for the trail to go underneath as well as relocating the sewer for a playground.

Thank you for that.

Colleagues, questions on this item?

Yes, Chair.

Do you have an estimate on where we are at in our city with sewer separation?

That seems like it's maybe one of our last ones, but how far along are we?

You know what?

I would need to get back to you on that.

But that is something that is studied and tracked, and we keep a map and a master list, and it's still active with the sewer separation.

One project that'll be coming in the near future is Godfrey, which is one of the large sewer separations that remains.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for the update.

We're phoning friends today.

We got more friends.

James, I'm making you work today.

Just wanted to let you know we're at 99.9% separated.

This is one of the last remaining areas that we're focusing on.

Thanks so much.

All right.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Item carries.

Item number eight is a resolution approving an agreement with MDOT for the road of mill and resurfacing and Monroe Avenue from Newberry Street to Coldbrook Street and authorizing 791,120 for the local share of costs.

So moved or moved and supported.

This project is on Monroe from Newberry to Coldbrook.

It is a mill and resurface with some curb changes to shorten crosswalks and improve pedestrian safety.

It is supported by a transportation improvement program, the Transportation Economic Development Fund.

So we are receiving grant dollars to support this project.

Questions, colleagues.

If there's no other ones, then I do have a question.

So this is an area that has a lot of construction occurring.

You're probably guessing my question.

We have the park that is probably halfway through that construction phases.

And we've had also some other um construction over there that has you know caused some concern for neighbors and some of the businesses in the area.

We also know I think we talked about this at the academic development project team, just some of our commercial corridors who've had those challenges that really relates to parking.

What's the time frame of this?

What's any other things that we've taken from kind of those scenarios to make sure that again just knowing that there's a canal park there and it's it's sort of not hey, this is what it is all the time, but there's a number of number of investments that are happening.

So there's been extensive community engagement, including individual meetings with businesses who have concerns.

The construction phase is roughly eight weeks long.

Um there's intentionality to only do one side of the street at a time.

So one direction will be open at all times, also signage and wayfinding to direct people to parking and uh sidewalks will be open on at least one side of the street at all times.

So maintaining access, trying to help people navigate and still have access to the businesses.

Okay.

And you said eight weeks.

Eight weeks.

Okay.

And when's the anticipated start time?

Um, I believe we're looking at May, June, but we are just awarding.

We will have pre-construction meetings, and we send out pre- we have pre-construction meetings with the neighborhood to let them know the schedule.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, all those in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Item carries.

Thank you.

Item number nine is a resolution awarding a contract with Lodestar Construction Inc.

for various locations of trench repair for 2026-1 in the amount of 976,690 dollars with a total amount not to exceed 1 million 120,000.

So moved support.

Moved and supported.

Um, this supports our water and sewer department when they go out and make repairs or have individual projects, then Lodestar comes in behind and does trench repair, especially in the outlying communities outside of the city of Grand Rapids, where we have our public works department will at times do our trench repair here in the city.

Thank you.

Questions, colleagues.

Hearing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed item carries.

Item number 10 is a resolution approving time extension for geotechnical services and construction, materials testing, professional services with no increase to the previously approved not to exceed amount of seven million dollars.

So moved.

Moved and supported.

This is a time extension for our one of our professional service contracts.

Okay.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed item carries.

Item number 11 is a resolution approving a time extension for the agreement with Dixon Engineering Inc.

for evaluation and maintenance structures and coatings with no increase to the previously authorized amount of 250,000.

So moved.

Support.

Thank you.

This is also a time extension to one of our professional service contracts.

Uh Dixon is a specialty contractor that inspects coatings and supports our often our water department with tank and tank coating inspections.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Item carries.

Item number 12 is a resolution accepting multiple easements at 915 Luffingwell Avenue, uh 2984 Bradford Street and 2848 Bradford Street in connect connection with Leffingwell and Bradford Reconstruction for a nominal fee of a dollar each.

So moved.

Support.

So this is an exciting project where spec where Corwell Health is partnering with us.

And we are improving the road.

Lefting well and Bradford, so lefting well from Leonard to Bradford, and then Bradford from Leffingwell to the East Belt Line, including adding a trail, a non-motorized facility along the side of the road.

And Corwell has been a fantastic partner, bringing both funding as well as granting easements to help make this a reality.

What's the total investment then for that?

Um I believe the total investment is about $4.5 million.

Okay.

And what's our share?

Um our share.

You know what?

That item is going to come forward, so I don't want to miss quote at this time, but I can get you that information.

Got it.

So okay, thank you.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Item carries.

And you can take a little break, Miss Irving.

For two minutes for two minutes.

Um next is item number 13, which is to schedule a public hearing for March 17, 2026 to consider an amendment to the City of Grand Rapids Brownfield Plan to include the Knapp Hills Redevelopment Project located at 2070 Dean Lake Avenue Northeast.

So moved.

Support.

Uh Miss Renero.

Yes, this is a project coming in from the Wheeler Group.

Uh, this is uh nine buildings multifamily for a total of 38 new multifamily townhomes with attached garages and other common area amenities, including a dog park.

Uh the developer intends to designate 21% of the uh units, which would be eight units uh for 100% area median income.

And this will be a total of 12.3 million in total development costs.

The eligible activities totaled two roughly two million, um, and most of that is um candidly infrastructure improvements.

Uh the only other thing I'd like to call attention to is the um the commitment on the inclusion plan at 22 percent, which is um north of the goal that we'd like to see at 20.

So happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Ms.

Renero.

Questions, colleagues.

Did I hear you say that 2021 percent is at 100% AMI, so eight units a hundred percent?

Yes.

And the implication is the rest is at market rate?

Yes.

Yes, yep.

Hearing no other question, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed item carries.

Item number 14 is a resolution scheduling a public hearing for March 17, 2026 to consider an amendment to the City of Grand Rapids Brownfield plan to include the Lake Eastbrook Department's redevelopment project located at 3538 Lake Eastbrook Boulevard Southeast.

So moved.

Support.

Mr.

Renero.

Thank you.

This is coming in um from Scott Weirda.

Uh, this is similar to the project he put forward a few months back at 44th in Breton.

Um, so this is about 6.8 uh six acres uh adjacent to Center Point Mall, formerly the orbit room site.

Um this will be new construction of 132 new apartments across four multifamily apartment buildings, where 45% of the units, meaning about 60 units, will be um monitored over the life of the Brownfield plan, which is 25 years at um between 90 and 100 percent AMI.

Total development cost of 25 million, uh, with a majority of that uh being um forgive me.

So 20 25 million total development costs, eligible activity costs around 10.6 million with a majority of that cost being dedicated to a financing gap.

This is a project that's deviating from what we have been seeing where we have been incentivizing potential rent loss.

Um this the act allows us to do either, and so I just want to call attention that is different.

Um, and we're working through that.

Um the yeah, uh actually I don't have any other comments on this.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to take them.

Thank you, Miss Renero.

Colleagues questions on this item.

Hearing no other com um hearing no other questions or comments, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Um, item number 14 carries.

Our last item for today um is a resolution awarding a contract with Taplin Group LLC for the Grand River Vitalization Project, and the amount of 14,562,625.98 cents for a total amount not to exceed of 25,982,101 dollars.

So moved.

Moved and supported, and we do have a presentation today.

Assuming gentlemen from the Taplin group.

No.

No, good morning.

My Mike Stahl.

Sorry.

With the city engineering department.

Sorry, Mike.

I've seen you before.

I just wanted to break the ice.

So good one though.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

All right.

So my name is Mike Staw.

I'm with the City Engineering Department.

I'm here with Matt Chapman, who is the executive director of Grand Rapids Whitewater.

And we're really excited to be here this morning because after 17 years of hard work, uh, we have a really good status update for you.

Um we have been working on removing the five dams in the Grand River uh that are in the city of Grand Rapids.

And about eight years ago, we we looked at the complexity that these projects had, and and they had the different phases of work had independent utility, meaning they could be done separately.

So we decided to split these projects into two different projects.

Um so on the slides, I'm showing there's uh an upper reach and a lower reach project.

The upper reach project it contemplates the removal of the Sixth Street Dam, which acts as that sea lamprey barrier.

Because of that sea lamp barrier would be involved, that work is being led by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Uh they are early in their stages of the environmental impact study, which they're estimating to take about two years, and the design process would follow after that.

The item we're bringing forward to you this morning is for the lower reach project, which is proposes to remove remove four dams in between uh I 196 and Fulton Street and replace it with natural rock features.

Uh on January 13th, we received two different bids.

Uh the Taplin group was the low bid with an amount of 14,562,625 and 98 cents, which was below the engineer's estimate.

Uh the Taplin group is headquartered in Kalamazoo, but they also have an office in Granville.

They are used to working on dams.

Uh they recently completed a dam uh rehabilitation project for Kent County on the Fallsburg Dam.

Uh they also have other ongoing work with Kent County and the city of Wyoming.

Uh before Mr.

Chapman shares details of what the river's going to look like, or um, I want to share impacts of how the construction may be felt in our community.

Uh first, I want to say that a knob one park, which is the area in blue on the screen, that be from Gillette Bridge to Bridge Street will be closed uh for from this spring for approximately the next two years.

This area will be used as the main staging and access for the Taplin group to get down into the river.

Uh the second impact that I wanted to note was that according to state regulatory requirements, the river will remain open for use while construction is ongoing.

And so for those users of the river, I would just ask you to be very cautious when moving around equipment that's in the river.

Um and now I will hand it over to Mr.

Chapman.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mike, and uh thank you, Commissioners, for us being here today.

As Mike said, it is uh very exciting.

Um I know this project is 17 years in the making.

Um it's been uh the last 11 years of my career, and it's really exciting to actually be finally here today, moving from that design vision um and planning stages towards an implementation stage.

So I wanted to just take a couple minutes and kind of just provide some overview uh reminders.

There's there's obviously been a lot of changes in this project.

Um, but just to remind folks what's going on, what's what it will look like, and then we can uh take some questions at the end.

But um the purpose of this lower reach project specifically is to restore the rapids, improve public safety, restore aquatic habitat diversity and suitability for native Great Lakes fish and mussel species, and to enhance river access and use.

Um that's a mouthful, but basically we want to make this river more accessible and make it a better place and restore back to what it was.

Um, you see on your screen there are a list of the project objectives.

I'm not going to read all of those for you, but um essentially what these were uh back in 2022, uh 2023 when we had uh withdrawn the previous permit application after we faced some issues.

We collectively, as the City and Grand Rapids Whitewater team sat down and said these were the project goals and elements that we absolutely have to that we must have incorporated into this design project in order to achieve the goals and the feedback that we'd received from this community.

Um so we met with multiple, uh I think seven different state and federal agencies over many, many years.

They also bought in um on these agencies and under or on these objectives and understood the uh the goals and the vision of this community.

So collectively, we worked with the agencies to redesign this process.

Um every element that I will show you as we go through the design uh seeks to maximize the uh balance of all of these different goals and objectives.

Um this is an incredibly challenging project.

We could spend hours going into the complexities of it, but uh just know that everything we did uh in the designs that we're trying to show you uh will will achieve these objectives that you see on the screen here.

So, what's it gonna look like?

Um we wanted to kind of show you that essentially what we're trying to do is is remove these concrete dams, which do hold back some water and slow down the water, um and replace them with more natural structures that you might see on a natural Michigan uh lake or or I'm sorry, river or stream.

Um so what you see in here is uh what we call a constructed riffle.

So essentially, this is as if you were on the Pearl Street Bridge looking to the west.

Uh we will remove that dam.

Um you can kind of see the uh Ford Museum over there in the background, remove that dam and essentially replace it with uh a very long gradual slope of rock and boulder.

Um you'll see whitewater, you'll hear the rapids, you'll see the rapids, but it really removes that dangerous hydraulic that's created by those dams and then allows for more enhanced uh opportunities for different recreational uses as you see there tubing, floating, canoeing, kayaking, and of course, angling.

Um looking now from the uh Gillette Street Bridge kind of over to the east side of the river.

Um, this is dam two, so directly in front of a knobwan park.

Um, you can see we have incorporated that kind of constructed riffle on the side, but now in the middle you see what we call a boulder drop structure.

Um so this is again designed to aid in fish passage and fish habitat.

So that structure will actually kind of act as like a little miniature fish ladder.

Um, because there will be some fast water coming over this structure, the fish can actually jump into those little pools and then continue to make their way upstream.

So, again, a really good example on this structure of the design and collaboration that took place between our engineers and the state fisheries biologist folks to come up with a design that works for this river and not just a cookie cutter design that they might use in in some other river.

As we move downstream, the uh the last two elements that we really incorporated and that you'll see in all of these designs is the use of scattered boulders.

So we have historically uh historic accounts of uh the river used to having hundreds of granite and limestone boulders and then the water rushing around them.

Um we are going to be replacing um all of that material that was taken out of the river.

We we plan to bring in over 125 different scattered boulder clusters.

These are four to six foot boulders in diameter that recreates the habitat, recreates rapids, creates excellent opportunities for resting areas for fish as they're migrating upstream.

Um and then finally, we worked uh you'll see on the uh kind of the left side of the screen the angler that's standing on this little rock structure.

Uh one of the things that's very important that we've worked with our partners at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, the City of Grand Rapids, and downtown Grand Rapids Inc.

is knowing that we want more people in and along the river, and there's a lot of parks and trails improvement projects.

Um the wet and the dry projects have to work together.

So what you see there is an example of what we call a J-Hook structure.

Um, and uh a good example of this is actually in front of the public museum where the museum wants to take the museum high school students and get them down into the river to use the river as a classroom.

Um so by doing this, we're actually able to create some safer areas of the water, uh, slow that water down so those students can physically get out every day and learn from this river.

So a good example of kind of that uh integration of the wet and dry projects.

Um so that's a really quick overview of what it will look like down here.

Again, trying to recreate a lot of uh the rapids.

Um lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to the city, uh city staff, and of course, the city commission.

Um we've had an opportunity to work with several different commissioners and different mayors over the the past 17 years.

So uh want to appreciate uh Deputy City Manager Barons for her leadership on this project, and of course, Mike Stahl in the uh engineering department.

Um Mike deserves a whole lot more credit than what I can give him today, uh but really making sure that that we get this project over the finish line.

Um I'm also joined by Wendy Ogilvie and Kara Decker from the Grand Valley Metro Council or the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds.

Um Wendy, I like to kind of say is one of the uh third co-founders of Grand Rapids Whitewater and has been at this for 17 years.

Um she tried to retire like two years ago, but we just keep sending her work and she just keeps doing it.

So uh we're not letting her go.

Uh her replacement Kara is uh rock star in advocating for the Grand River in the community every single day.

So the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds is working on signage for water trails and access routes, and how do we get everybody into and out of this river and how do we take care of it?

So I just want to make sure that I uh express my thanks to them as well.

Um I'm sure I missed many, many partners in this work, but uh thank you to everybody, and it's exciting to be here.

So happy to take any questions.

Thank you for the presentation and Sherry Yasasi.

If I could take just ask for a point of privilege, I also want to just echo for this body as well.

That this project really is what community development is all about.

It has taken the persistence of this committee and the prior versions of this committee uh with the partnership and vision that Grand Rapids Whitewater offered to really create a different relationship for the city with the river.

And uh it's really exciting for all of us that have worked on it, me less than everybody else here in the room on that project, and really just want to call your attention to the building blocks um that you that you've acted on even today with the Greenway Grant Trail.

Um so there'll be a dry trail ultimately from hopefully Kent County eastern boundary all the way to Lake Michigan.

There is through the leadership of Grand Valley Metro Council now uh river trail designation uh for uh the upper, middle, and lower reaches.

As soon as we get that Sixth Street Dam out, it's possible to take a multi-day journey down the river, uh, which has its own economic development opportunities as well.

So really wanted to just take a step back for a moment and talk about how much has been unlocked already in terms of um activation for our community jobs, uh whether they're construction jobs or the ability to piggyback on river tourism, um, lots of great things that uh you see kind of materializing today, and we've seen a lot of investment already on the on the assumption this project is gonna happen, and it's really nice to see it uh materialize today.

So thank you for that moment.

Yeah, of course.

Thank you.

And thank you for the presentation, Mr.

Stahl.

I'll never forget your name.

And Mr.

Chapman.

So um and and um to all those that were also involved, and just a little bit of history.

I think you know you think about how much time has passed, like okay, it sometimes seems like it was just 2,000, or it was just seems like it was it was just you know 1998.

Um but here we are in 2026, and thank you for you know, describing a bit, you know, we often hear about the upper and lower um doing that little uh you know overview, and you know, certainly I think you know, post-COVID, even more so really making sure people are connected with the natural habitat and looking for these multiple spaces and third spaces where people can engage, um, both you know for recreation, for peace, and you know, another draw into our wonderful city.

So um any questions, colleagues or comments about this project?

Yes, Commissioner.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Thank you so much for this update.

It's exciting to be on on the the latter end of a 17-year project.

It's great.

So thank you.

Um I have a few questions, uh, more so um a little bit about partnership.

Um you mentioned the public museum.

Um I'm wondering and in engagement with the state and and city and other stakeholders to come up with the design and the plan.

Curious if you met with folks like our C4 group and some of our other climate and recreational and community advocacy groups that are based here within the city boundaries.

Yeah, we have had I the there's probably in one of our reports there's a list of all the different groups that we've met with.

Um so yes, I don't know specifically if we've met with all of the ones that you just named, but uh we have intentionally tried to go out and meet with several different nonprofits, churches, business leaders, community groups.

I know again, through the work that Elgro does, uh they pull a lot of their partners and conversations in.

Um, and then as we look to the upper reach, we're about to start on hopefully it'll be much shorter than 17 years, but another second round of that community engagement.

So happy to make sure that we pull in in any other specific groups that uh we might not have met with yet.

So that's great.

And then is there a landing page available?

So if folks wanted to update, will they will there be one place that they can go to know where this project is over the next two years?

So there are several river pages out there right now.

So we actually do have a communications work group that's trying to put that all into one uh one place.

So Grand Rapids Whitewater.org will have a lot of that.

Um but I think what we're trying to work on now is the wet, the dry, everything.

So uh we're working on that.

Uh Grand River Network has a lot of that information.

Um River for All still has some of like the early history of that project.

So we're working to consolidate that a little bit uh more streamlined for folks.

That'll be great.

Appreciate it.

Um okay, so just changing gears a little bit.

I want to like to hear a little bit more about I know an inclusion plan.

Is it necessary for this uh for what we're talking about today?

Uh, but would like to hear a little bit more about your inclusion aspirations, what you think is uh realistic in terms of subcontracting, um, your practices, how big you expect your team to be, will they be locally sourced?

So I want to talk a little bit more about the business side of doing this work.

Yeah, Mike, you want to take that from the city standpoint and federal rules that we have.

So yeah, well, so we are pursuing federal funding with the NRCS right now.

So the the rules for the federal funding says that we can't use that micro-local discount program, but with the using the Taplin group, they are out of Kalamazoo, the office in in Granville.

They're they're only subcontracting four percent of this work.

The most of the value of this contract comes from the stone and a large earth moving equipment, which is very niche for this industry.

Um, but we are considered so the construction contract in and of itself does not have any micro-local presence.

We've been working with uh Ahmad and AJ on different avenues for that.

Um so in the near future, I hope to be presenting to you uh uh uh professional services contracts with micro-local contract with micro-local contractors or consultants for things like architectural historian and other things where um you know the contract itself may not be fit that specific um opportunity, but we're looking for other local, we have lots of different needs for professionals out there during this project.

So looking at different avenues and trying to be creative on that front to have the the inclusion from multiple people.

Thank you.

And can you speak a little bit more to the size of the team and how you plan to source that to do the actual work?

The the size of the construction team or the sort of the professional services to be whoever is making these images happening, so combination of both, right?

So the tapoon group, they're they're gonna provide most of their own staffing and employees.

Um, as far as the the professional services go, we have a a number of uh different consultants that we've had.

Um so there is a l a local uh fish biologist that we're including on that.

Um the the architectural historian is also um is that micro-local.

Um so what we did, I guess to I guess provide we did go out for requests for proposals for the group.

Um let me interrupt you because I've realized I don't think I answered your your question well.

Um when I say the size of the team, I'm thinking about the construction team.

The construction team okay so um be based on the federal requirements that we have.

We have to go with for the lowest qualified bidder for that, and and same to I guess restate what I said the all of the micro-local requirements that we try to include are the the federal funding does not allow us to have that.

So that really limits our ability to be more specific on the contracting front.

So outside of that formal structure, I'm really looking for um so when so we're talking about up to 25 million dollar contract, and this will be transformational for the river, but I also would like this work to be transformational for the people of the city, and so there's going to be job opportunities.

There's uh particularly we're talking about the construction phase right now.

We have other large construction projects happening downtown, and we have workers who are in construction teams who are out of state, and as you all work on this as much as possible, I would like to ensure that you are looking to source locally and making sure that employment is coming local and those opportunities are staying here and and benefiting the people here.

Yeah, so we early on we looked at the the construction management approach and in fact had two construction management advisors on over the 17 years of this project.

And as we looked at it, and then the federal funding became more of a reality, we dug into that and we had to change the cons the approach for how we solicited that from the construction management approach, which can offer the the opportunity to do those things that you're referring to as opposed to general contracting bid, which is just low lowest qualified bid.

So if a contractor we we put out the qualifications for that, if they can meet those bids, we have to go with the lowest quality.

So you're saying we don't have really any options around uh taking in quality of contractor and quality of workforce as we make this decision.

So it there the qualifications are are really purely the technical of can they do the work?

Okay, because of the Davis Davis Bacon.

Is that the well the federal funding requirements?

Correct.

Okay.

Um I'm gonna stop us there just because we are gonna get ready to transition over to our committee of the whole.

If there are additional details that could be provided, um specifically around some of the professional services pieces, I think that would be good.

And as you said, Commissioner, this is a very large contract, so I'm sure our colleagues will also have a number of questions as well.

And this is sort of like that that kind of start.

So um thank you.

And I'm gonna go ahead and call the I apologize.

I just have I think this is a short question if it's okay.

Um I I think a commissioner, I'm gonna um I just want to know when would the larger construction detail plan, if we had additional questions be coming to us.

Well, that would be you know, this is this a resolution today is awarding the contract, so we would be then you know able to follow up with any of the details as they go would go that contract would go through any sub, you know, the subcontract and pieces like that.

So I would have to uh Miss Bearens, would you want to answer that question?

Sure.

So there would not normally be any additional commission action for this construction project unless we need a uh budget amendment, which may come forward at a different time.

But the bigger picture question of all of the work that we have done to meet some of those micro local objectives, I will work with the city manager to bring a more comprehensive look forward for you.

There has been a lot of work we do in the contracting community just to create the environment and the ethic that we're trying to go through for that we hope each of these, even when we you know mandatorily can't make certain requirements, we're hoping we're creating a culture within the community that is getting at some of these objectives.

So we can do a big thing.

I didn't have any more questions on that.

I just wanted to know if where to go next.

So thank you, Chair.

I appreciate the attorney.

All right, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Item carries.

Thank you so much.

And we're adjourned at 9 56.

Okay.